Monday, July 8, 2013

Visiting Down Under: SL Australia

By Grey Lupindo

Recently I took
a trip to SL Australia, located at Australia (165, 82, 28).This sim is owned by a group of Australians
who wanted to have an Aussie meeting place, as well as a place where people from
other countries could come and enjoy life down under.They
have created a fun as well as informative site.

One of their
notecards states that Australia is the sixth largest country in the world.Like its RL counterpart, SL Australia is also
very big, with lots of unusual things to do and see.There’s a lot of free transportation to help
you get around, including a monorail, bicycles, jet skis and more.

I started out
at the Sydney Opera House, where I also found information about the Sydney
Harbour Bridge and some other landmarks.From there I biked across the plaza to the stores.

The shopping
area is small, but it had some unusual stores.“Stellar”, located on the corner sells, among other things, both drapes
and vampire ears.Another unusual store is “Dingo Mojo” where
you can buy Aussie plants, including an Aussie Beer Tree that gives out bottles
of beer.They also sell lorikeets, cockatoos and other
Australian birds.

Located in
the middle of the shopping area is Ritchey Sealy Art Studio, which is owned by
a RL Australian artist.In SL he is Ritchey
Jacobus, and he has been a resident for over 6 years.His studio is very large and filled with
paintings of Australian beaches, the sea, and some towns.They
are all for sale at a very reasonable price, $50L.My favorites were of life in Moruya, a town
that I had never heard of but looks like an interesting place. When I visited, Jacobus also had paintings on
display behind one of the monorail stops at Australia (175, 6, 47). Here there were paintings of other aspects of
Australian life, including kangaroos.It’s
always interesting to see a RL artist come into SL, especially when the subject
matter is different and as well done as these paintings are.

In RL the Great
Barrier Reef is located on the northeast coast of Australia and is home to
exotic sea life.In SL Australia you can
rent scuba equipment from a dive shop located near Australia (37, 96, 22).I
rented their equipment for $20L for 10 minutes, which was plenty of time for
me.Although the coral and plants were
pretty, I saw a Great White Shark that sent me topside.But for braver residents, the equipment can
be rented for longer periods of time.When
the HUD is worn, gauges and other instruments appear.I have never used scuba equipment in RL so I
don’t know how authentic this HUD is.But it was fun, at least until I saw the shark. Inside the dive shop is a stylish wet suit
that is a freebie, whether or not you rent the scuba equipment.

Jet skis
are available for free so I hopped on one to tour the harbor.While I was touring I spotted a diving
cage exhibit that looked interesting and a 7 Seas fishing area located at The
Shed, Australia (75, 180, 21). I stopped to fish long enough to catch a
Common Green Clownfish and an Uncommon Ultra Violet Mutant.But I decided
to save the diving cage for a future visit.I had had enough of sharks for one day.

I stopped by the Dingo Bay Hotel, which
appears to be brand new.There were
plenty of tables and chairs, a dance ball and lots of room to use it.No one else was there when I visited,
probably due to the time difference between my RL location and RL
Australia.There’s a sign where anyone
who is interested can get notices of upcoming events.

My vacation
time was nearly up, but I wanted to ride the monorail before I left.I climbed the steps to the platform and
waited for a train.It came quickly, but
I had trouble getting into it.I slipped
between it and the railings on my first try and landed in the harbor
below.I climbed back up and waited for
the next train.This time I boarded by
going directly into a seat instead of trying to walk into the train car.This approach worked perfectly.The monorail is great.It shook and made noise just like a real
train.It goes pretty fast, and you can
get a quick overview of the site.

I rode the
monorail around a couple of times without any problem.As I rode, I could see that there were many
other places that I will have to return to visit.I plan to do that soon.